Washing machine



May 27, 1941. G. A. WINDELL 2,243,325

WASHING MACHINE Filed June 20, 193;: 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR George A. Windell ATTORNEY BY EM May 27, 1941. WINQELL 2,243,325.-

WASHING MACHINE V Filed June 20, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l 4 4 I i l I t i INVENTOR 22 Geor e Aim-"den BY A ATTORNEY Patented May 27,v 1941 WASHING MACHINE George A. Windell, Kansas City, Mo. Application June 2c, 1938, Serial No. 214,668

6 Claims.

My invention relates to washing machines, and more particularly to a washing machine for dry cleaning purposes.

In the use of a washing machine for dry cleaning purposes the diiflculty is encountered that, although cleaning fluid is fed into the machine constantly while the machine is in operation and also constantly removed, washing machines as ordinarily constituted that are used for so-called dry cleaning purposes, do not provide a complete interchange ofclean for dirty solvent in the machine while in operation. It is accordingly a purpose of my invention to provide a washing machine for use in a dry cleaning plant,which will avoid this difliculty, the machine being so constructed that the clean solvent will pass into the machine at substantially a predetermined locationand will be directed through the machine in such a manner that the dirty solvent resulting from the washing operation will be discharged at a predetermined location, and there will be a complete interchange of clean for dirty solvent as the solvent passes through the machine, there being no dirty solvent pocketed anywhere in the machine during such flow of solvent there through.

To accomplish this object my washing machine comprises a cylinder, which is not perforated in the manner that was previously the practice, and

which, instead ofoperating in a body of cleaning fluid in a manner such that the cleaning fluid cylinder, the solvent being withdrawn from said housing or casing constantly to keep the level of liquid in said housing or casing in' which the cylinder operates lower than in the cylinder. The

flow of the cleaning fluid is from inside the cylinder to the outside thereof, and not back and forth between the inside'and the outside of the cylinder, as is the case with washing machines having perforated cylinders.

It is a further purpose of my invention to provide means for introducing the cleaning fluid, or solvent, into the cylinder in such a manner that it does not afiect the bearing or shaft on which the cylinder rotates. By utilizing a cylinder that is not perforated, that is provided with 5 only occasional openings to direct the discharge -of cleaning fluid from the cylinder, the mixing of the dirty solvent with theclean solvent is avoided. My invention is adaptable tovarious washing machines now in use. The cylinder that is not perforated, such as that of my invention, having only a few outlet openings, as will be obvious as the description of the invention provide the inlet for the solventlinto the cylinder near the bottom thereof, so that the incoming solvent will wash out any heavysolids that may collect in the lower portion of the cylinder and passes in and out through theperforations in the cylinder, is so constructed that clean solvent, or cleaning fluid, enters directly into the cylinder near one end thereof and the major portion of said solvent passes from the cylinder at the other end thereof after having performed the washing operation; Such an arrangement and number of openings is provided in the cylinder as to prevent any pocketing of cleaning fluid in the cylinder and to maintain a predetermined level of cleaning fluid therein, as the cleaning fluid enters at a predetermined rate through entrance openings into the cylinder and passes from the cylinder througha predetermined number and arrangement of discharg openings to direct the flow of cleaning fluid or solvent through the machine in the proper manner and maintain the desired level thereof.

- It is a further object of my invention to provide a washing machine comprising a cylinder through which a continuous flow of solvent from one end thereof toward the other end thereof in an axial direction of the cylinder takes place, and which is provided with a casing or housing around the carry the same toward the outlet end thereof. Furthermore, my improved washing machine provides a higher level of solvent inside the cylinder and at the same time reduces the volumeof solvent necessary, as all-the solvent utilizedpasses through the cylinder. Furthermore the total flow required to accomplish the same results is much less in a washing machine of my invention than in any previously known washing machine, thus making it possible to use smaller Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2- 2.01;

Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, but looking in the opposite direction, and partly broken away.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view through the inlet connection used in the form of the invention shown in Fig. 1, on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 5 is a section taken on the line 55 of Fig.4.

proved washing machine comprises an outer cas-' ing H], which is stationary, and which is mounted on any suitable support, such as the legs II, and which is provided with suitable bearings l3 for the shafts f4 and I5, which rotatably support the cylinder within the casing [0. Any suitable bearing means may be provided, and any suitable means may be provided for providing'a liquid tight joint around the shafts I4 and I5, ball bearings [6 being shown somewhat diagrammatically in the drawings, and any suitable packing material I! being provided around the shaft to make the joint between the shaft and casing fluid-tight. The casing I is provided with a suitable opening therein to obtain accessto the interior thereof, such as the hinged door Ill, The end wall l9 of the casing I0 is provided only with the opening through which the shaft I extends, but the end wall of said casing is provided with an opening 2 I, through which the inlet conduit 22 extends, the same being secured in fluid. tight fixed relation in the opening 2 I.

The conduit 22 is a portion of the inlet member shown in Figs. 4 and 5, said inlet member having a relatively flat, wide hollow body portion 23, which terminates at one end in the tubular portion 22 and at the other end in an inner tubular portion 24 and an outer annular wall portion 25 that is spaced from the tubular portion 24 providing an annular chamber 26 surrounding the tubular portion 24 and open to the interior of the hollow body portion 23 connecting the tubular portion .22 with said annular chamber 25. The annular wall 25 is cut away or slotted, as indicated at 21, to provide a discharge opening from the annular chamber 26.

Mounted on the shaft portions [4 and I5, so as to rotate therewith, is a cylinder, the shafts having spiders 28 fixed thereon to rotate therewith, which are secured, respectively, to the end wall 29 and the partition 30, provided on said cylinder. The rotation of the cylinder is accomplished through these spiders by means of the pulley 3|, fixed on the shaft portion IS, the rotation being in any desired manner, such as is commonly provided in Washing machines at present inuse, a suitable drive being usually provided for rotating the cylinder a certain definite number of rotations in one direction and then a certain definite number of rotations in the opposite direction alternately.

In the form of the invention shownin Figs. 1 to. 3, inclusive, the cylinder is shown with the walls 29 and 30 thereof made of wood and the peripheral wall portion thereof made of metal, while in the form of the invention shown in Figs. 7 and 8 the entire washing chamber of the cylinder is shown as being constructed of wood.

It is obvious that the washing machine cylinder can be made ofv any desired materials, as may be preferred, and it will become obvious as the invention is described that the materials from which the cylinder is made can be varied without in any way affecting the advantages or desirability of my invention.

In the form of the invention shown in Fig. 1, the peripheral wall portion 32 of the cylinder extends endwise beyond the partition 30 and a metallic end wall- 33 is connected in fluid tight relation with the peripheral wall portion 32, said wall 33 having an opening 34 therein, through which the annular wall 25 of the inlet connection extends. Said inlet connection has an end wall 35 thatis secured in fluid tight relation to the tubular'portion 24 and the slot, or opening, 21, lies within the inlet chamber 36, provided between the partition 30 and the end wall 33. Said inlet chamber is closed to the casing l0 except for being shown having an elbow 38 thereon, with which the tubular portion 22 is screw-threadedly connected.

Part of the partition 30 is formed by closed end walls 39 of hollow ribs 40 and said hollow ribs are mounted in fluid tight relation on. the peripheral Wall portion 32 of the cylinder of the washing machine. The peripheral wall portion 1 32 is provided with a hinged door 4I,'throu'gh which access is had to the interior of the cylinder.

The partition 30 is provided with a. plurality of openings 42 therein, which may be arranged in any desired manner, but are shown as being arranged in a plurality of rowsand in staggered arrangement. Said openings 42 are, however, to be located near the outer peripheral portion of the wall 30 and in substantially equally spaced relation between the ribs 40, and must be suflicient in number and size that the solvent, or cleaning fluid, will not accumulate in the inlet chamber 36 so as to stand at a higher level therein than in the washing chamber 43 of said cylinder located between the walls 29, 30 and 32, or in other words, the solvent, or cleaning fluid, must be adapted to flow freely into the washing chamber 43 through said openings 42. The openings 42 are located near the outer periphery of the partition 30, so as to introduce the solvent, or cleaning fluid, into the washing chamber 43 below the liquid level maintained therein, so that the flow of liquid into the washing chamber will not be of a splashing or spraying character. It is desired to maintain a current or tendency of the liquid to flow in a given direction in the washing chamber, but not to spray or squirt the solvent, or cleaning fluid, about in said chamber.

Means is provided for discharging the cleaning fluid, or solvent, entering the washing chamber 43 through the openings 42 from said washing chamber in' such a manner that the body of liquid in the washing chamber will be moving continuously from the inlet chamber 36 into the washing chamber-43 and continuously from said washing chamber into, the outer casing ID, the entire body of liquid in the washing chamber being constantly moving toward the outlet means provided from said washing chamber, so that there will be no stationary portions in the body of fluid and no eddies orother pockets of dirty fluid, or solvent, existing in said chamber. In order to accomplish this, scattered openings 44 are provided in the peripheral wall 32, these being spaced and arranged so that the same are closer together toward the end of the cylinder provided with the end wall 29.

The hollow ribs 40 constitute part of the peripheral wall 32, as will be evident from Figs. 2 and 3, and discharge openings 45 are also provided in the side walls of said hollow ribs, these being also scattered along said side walls of said ribs in suclf a manner as to obtain the desired' direction of flow in the washing chamber of the cylinder and yet maintain a desired level of liquid therein, the direction of flow being generally I from the wall or partition 30 toward the wall 29, but there being suflicient discharge along the ribs 40 and the peripheral wall 32 to prevent any dead pockets in the body of liquid. Said hollow ribs 40 are provided with open ends 64 oppositethe closed ends 39, through which theliquid passing through the openings 45 is discharged into the space 41 between the cylinder and the casing. The major portion of the liquid is, however, discharged through the end wall 29, openings 46 being provided in said end wall, through which the cleaning fluid, or solvent, is discharged into the space 41 between the cylinder and the outer casing Ill.

It will be noted that the number of openings 46 is considerably greater in the portion of the end wall 29 that is lowermost in Fig. 3, which is that portion of the end wall which will be downwardly when the door 4! is substantially in alignment with the door it, or the position of the cylinder in which loading and unloading thereof occurs. Due to the fact that a larger number of openings 43 are below the center of the end wall 29 when in this position, the level of the liquid will be lowered to that in the casing it) both when the cylinder is being filled and emptied. Normally, the openings 46, in cooperation with the openings 44 and 45, will maintain the liquid level in the washing chamber at the point indicated by the numeral 48 in Fig. 1.

It will be noted that the openings 42 are much nearer the periphery of the wall 30 than the openings 46 are to the periphery of the wall 29. Thus the liquid entering the washing chamber 43 will always enter the same below the liquid level maintained therein and the tendency will be for the liquid to flow along the periphery of the washing chamber toward the wall 29 and along the side walls of the ribs 40, and also in a generally upward direction toward the'openings 46 from the openings 42. The particular number and location of openings shown is merely illusuid therein should ever reachthe opening 34 it will overflow into the casing l0:

While any desired clarifying means, or other means for rehabilitating the cleaning fluid, or solvent, may be utilized, whether a so-called continuous flow be utilized or the cleaning fluid be renovated in batches, the cleaning fluid, or sol--.

vent, comes in a clean condition from some source of supply through the pipe 31 and leaves through pump 54, said pump 54 pumping the cleaning trative. The openings will be arranged generally I as shown, but can be varied to obtain the desired direction of flow and level of liquid in the washing chamber of the cylinder. It is desired to maintain a lower liquid level 48' in the casing movements of the cylinder during the washing operation. It will also be noted that the level of liquid in the inlet chamber 36 is limited by the 19 "than in the washing chamber 43, thus ma nfluid that is to be renovated into the filter, or clarifler, 52. A sight glass 55 is provided in the conduit 56 leading from the'pump 54 to the clarifler, or fllter, 52. It is accordingly recognized that the cleaning operation is completed when the liquid passing through the sight glass 55 is the same color as the liquid passing through the sight glass 50. However, in washing machines using perforated cylinders and having the cleaning fluid, or solvent, supplied thereto in the usual manner, a large'part of the dirty solvent, or

cleaning fluid, remains in the machineand is not replaced by clean solvent or cleaning fluid. As a result, the sight glass 55 in such installations does not indicate the true condition-of the cleaning. fluid within the washing machine. With my improvements, the cylinder of the machine has cleaning fluid flowing therethrough in all portions thereof below the liquid level in a steady stream,-so that there will be a complete exchange of clean solvent for dirty solvent continuously taking place, and the color of the solvent passing through the sight glass 55will truly indicate the condition of the solvent within the Washing chamber 43 of the cylinder. The level of liquid in the casing is controlled by the rate at which it is withdrawn through the outlet 49 by means of the pump 54.

While ordinarily, an inlet connection, such as shown in Figs. 1, 4, 5 and 6, is preferred, the invention, can be modified, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, in which the shaft I4 is made hollow and the clean solvent pipe 31 is provided with an extension 51, which extends into the hollow stationary shaft I4, and is connected therewith in fluid tight relation, the solvent passing through the passage 58 in the hollow shaft portion l4 into a chamber 59, provided in the spider 60, mounted on the partiti'on30. The spider has an annular portion 66 surrounding and rotatably mounted on the hollow shaft I4 bythe ball bearings 61, to-rotatably mount the cylinder on said shaft. The hub portion 61 of the spider is spaced from the outer" face of the partition or wall 30, and openings 62 are provided between the spokes of the spider, through which. the cleaning fluid, or solvent-passes into the inlet chamber 36 and from said inlet chamber through the openings 42 in "the wan '30 into'the washing chamber 43; The washing chamber 43 is constructed in substantially the same manner as previously described except that in this form the chamber is shown as being. made of wood with solid wooden ribs 40', the peripheral wall opening 34, inasmuch as, if the level ofithe'liq-,

portion 32' being of wood and having an extension 63, to which the metallic wall 33 is secured in fluid tight relation to form the chamber 36.

The washing chamber 43 is provided with the door 4|, similar to the ,door ll, and it is, of course, to be understood that the arrangement of openings is substantially the same in the walls of the washing chamber as previously described, except that, of course, there are no openings in the ribs. The number of openings in the wooden peripheral wall portion 32 would also, of course, have to be increased somewhat to take care of the discharge that would occur in the previously described form of the invention through the openings 45. Thus there would be a larger number of openings 44 in the form shown in Figs. 7 and 8 than in the form shown in Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive.

What I claim is:

1. In a washing machine, an outer casing, a cylinder housed within said casing and mounted for rotation therein, said cylinder comprising a washing chamber, discharge outlets leading from said washing chamber intosaid casing located so as to maintain a body of liquid in the lower portion thereof during rotation of said cylinder,

liquid inlet means supplying liquid fromexternally of said casing to said washing chamber comprising inlet openings discharging all the liquid entering said washing chamber into the body of liquid maintained therein at one end of said chamber said outlets comprising openings leading from said washing chamber in the opposite end thereof from said inlet openings and scattered openings -leading from said washing chamber between said ends, most of said openings being at and near the end of said chamber remote from said inlet openings, to cause all the liquid in said chamber to flow in the lower half of said cylinder in a general direction away from said inlet openings toward the other end of said cylinder.

2. In a washing machine, a stationary outer casing having-a discharge outlet in the lower portion thereof, a cylinder having an inlet chamber at one endthereof and a washing chamber axially adjacent thereto, said cylinder being mounted for rotation within said casing, and means for maintaining a moving body of cleaning fluid in said washing chamber flowing continuously from one end of said washing chamber toward the other end thereof during rotation of said cylinder, comprising an inlet conduit closed off from said casingleading from externally of said casing directly into said inlet chamber, means for continuously supplying cleaning-fluid from said inlet chamber into said washing chamber near the periphery of said washing chamber at one end thereof, said inlet chamber being otherwise closed off from said washing chamber, said washing chamber having discharge openings therein spaced varying distances from said end thereof, said washing chamber being otherwise closed to said casing, the major portion of said discharge openings being in the end wall of said washing chamber remote from said inlet chamber and nearer the axis thereof than the feeding means from said inlet chamber to maintain a liquid level in said Washing chamber above that of the fluid fed intothe same from said inlet chamber, and means for continuously "withdrawing cleaning from.

4. In a washing machine, an outer casing having a discharge outlet in the lower portion thereof, a cylinder mounted for rotation within said outer casing, said cylinder having an inlet chamber anda washing chamber, and an inlet conduit leading from externally of said casing into said inlet chamber, said cylinder having means establishing communication between said inlet and washing chambers only at one end of said washing chamber at points spaced from the axis of rotation thereof, said inlet chamber being otherwise closed, and said washing chamber having hollow ribs open to said casing only at the end thereof opposite said inlet chamber, said connection leading into said inlet chamber ad jacent the axial center of one end wall of said.

cylinder, the peripheral wall of said-inlet chamber being imperforate, and said partition having openings therein remotefrom the axial center thereof only to establish communication between said inlet and washing chambers, said washing chamber having scattered openings in the peripheral wall thereof and having openings in the end wall thereof remote from said inlet chamber, the openings in said end wall being nearer the axis of said cylinder than the openings in said partition, and there being more of said openings on one side of the center than on the other side of the center thereof.

6. A washing machine cylinder having a transverse partition therein dividing the same into an inlet chamber and an axially adjacent washing chamber, said cylinder having an inlet connection leading into said inlet chamber adjacent the axial center of one end wall of said cylinder, the peripheral wall of said inlet chamber being imperforate, and said partition having openings therein only remote from the axial center thereof to establish communication between said inlet and washing chambers, said washing chamber having scattered openings in the peripheral wall thereof and having openings inthe endwall thereof remote from said inlet chamber, said peripheral wall'comprisin'g hollow ribs open only at the end thereof remote from said inlet chamber and having scattered openings leading from the washing chamber along the length thereof.

GEORGE A. WINDELL. 

